Apple has fallen under plenty of scrutiny for storing a majority of its $100+ billion cash horde overseas to avoid paying U.S. corporate taxes, the highest tax rate in the world. Now Apple CEO Tim Cook has been summoned to speak at a Senate hearing next week as part of an investigation into the offshore tax practices of U.S businesses.

Last week we told you that Verizon would be selling the iPhone 5 for 50% off later this month. The promotion has now begun, and the iPhone 5 is being offered for $99 with a carrier contract instead of the normal $199 retail price.

But there’s a catch that severely limits eligibility.

Google unleashed an insane amount of news during its marathon keynote at the I/O developer conference today in California. A new music subscription service, Google Maps update, and messaging platform were just a few of the announcements.

Software and services was the name of the game at I/O this year, and here’s a roundup of everything Google unveiled earlier this afternoon:

Apple just announced that the App Store just hit its 50 billionth app download ever. To celebrate the event, Apple said it would give a $10,000 App Store Gift Card to the person who downloads the 50 billionth app. Apple’s also giving $500 App Store Gift Cards to the next 50 people to download an app after the 50 billion mark.

As you may know, Siri is backed by the seriously amazing knowledge web site, Wolfram Alpha, which makes dynamic computations about your search terms based on a its own collection of built-in data, special algorithms, and other secret fancy methods. Or, to put it another way: magic.

Anyway, Siri taps into Wolfram Alpha and can come up with some great stuff, like calculating tips for you, for example. Siri’s connection to Wolfram can do even more than that, like generating a secure password for you. Here’s how.

Google Maps is already one of the best mapping services on the planet, but Google isn’t content to rest on its laurels. At the Google I/O keynote this morning Google announced that it will launch a new version of Google Maps for iOS and Android later this year.

The new Google Maps will come with a simplified UI, as well as new features like real-time traffic, dynamic re-routing, reviews from Zagat and there will even be a dedicated Google Maps app for iPad.

Google Now was already pretty awesome, but now it’s getting even better on both iOS and Android. And it’s coming to the desktop as part of Google’s Knowledge Graph.

What happens when Google folds GTalk, Voice, Hangouts and Google+ Messenger into one mega-app, then releases it for Android, iOS and the web, all at one go? The new Google Hangouts: Google’s universal messenging apps.

Ahead of Apple’s rumored iRadio WWDC announcement, Google has announced a new subscription music service, Google Play Music All Access.

Siri’s got a ton of talents. She’s an amateur movie critic. She knows all about robotics. Plus, she’s pretty decent at her main job as a personal assistant.

Siri’s never been a great comedian, and whoever was put in charge of making Siri more witty and conversational  is just making her look more dorky. Now whenever you ask Siri to tell you a joke, she replies with, “Get Siri-ous. Ha ha!” The joke is bad enough, but the little “Ha ha!” at the end makes Siri sound like some high school nerd at open mic night. Hopefully Tim Cook and the gang will teach Siri some better jokes before WWDC 2013.

Source: Reddit

Well, we can’t say we’re too surprised with this one following this week’s leak, but it’s great to see Google Play game services has been officially confirmed at Google I/O this morning. The service will rival services like Game Center on iOS, and features will include cloud-based game syncing, online multiplayer, and more.

There are some nifty tweaks for jailbroken iOS devices that allow you to add blank spaces to your home screen and arrange your app icons any way you like. Well now you don’t need to jailbreak to have this option, because a newly-discovered glitch in iOS lets you create blank spaces with a bit of trickery.

People often underestimate the experience of having wireless headphones when you’re going about your day but once you try these you’ll understand why Bluetooth headphones receive all the hype these days.

They’re sleek, comfortable, wireless, Bluetooth compatible, they sound great, and they’re 43% off thanks to Cult of Mac Deals. For a limited time, these headphones are just $57 – and that includes the cost of shipping!

I have a handful of docks that I’ve stowed away in a drawer because I no longer own the iOS devices I bought them for; they were all bought for specific iOS devices, and they’re not compatible with my latest ones.

With the iDockAll, that’s not an issue, because it’s designed to fit any iOS device you own — including your iPhone, your iPad, and your iPod touch. It looks darn good, too, and it doesn’t prevent your iOS device from being used while it’s charging.

Wireless interference from an iPhone has been blamed for disrupting the compasses on a regional airliner and sending pilots several miles off course. The incident happened on a 2011 flight as it climbed past 9,000 feet, but the issue was resolved when a flight attendant asked a passenger to turn their iPhone off.

EA has confirmed that it is developing a mobile version of its Frostbite game engine called Frostbite Go for Android and iOS. The engine will empower “EA game developers with Frostbite’s proven excellent workflows and features to bring true Frostbite experiences to all major mobile platforms,” EA says on its website.

We’ve heard before that piracy is just killing Android developers. It’s such a wide scale problem that some devs are finding little incentive, between piracy and fragmentation, to actually release their games on Android.

Sadly, the problem doesn’t seem to be getting any better. Another developer has just released details on the massive problem they are having on Android with app piracy. How bad is it? Piracy on Android outnumbers iOS piracy by fourteen to one. Woof!

OK, so maybe not a huge surprise, but Google is said to launch a paid, subscription-based music service, like Rdio or Spotify, as soon as this week at the Google I/O conference, reports the Wall Street Journal.

According to “people familiar with the matter,” says the WSJ, the announcement of the new service could happen as soon as tomorrow, when Google hosts it’s annual I/O developer conference. The WSJ says that Google has previewed new music initiatives at I/O in the past, so it might just announce the streaming service there, as well.

I suppose since I’m a gamer, I assume everyone else is. If you’re not, or you don’t use the fantastic cross-platform digital gaming portal, Steam, this tip won’t apply to you. Check out the last couple of tips for great space saving ideas, instead. Or, heck, read a review or two on Cult of Mac. I hear they’re pretty good.

For you Steam gamers looking to save some space on your hard drive, there’s one place you should really look.

The new Yahoo! Mail app for iOS has received another update just two weeks after its big revamp. This release adds support for Apple’s AirPrint service, allowing you to wirelessly print emails and attachments from your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Google I/O kicks off today, and one of the announcements you can look forward to is a new Google Maps service. Google accidentally teased major changes ahead of its official unveiling by opening up a new webpage that allowed users to request an invite to a new Maps service.

That page has now been pulled, but not before screenshots began making their way around the Internet.

According to Reuters, US authorities have called Apple out for collusion with electronic book publishers, saying that the Cupertino-based company conspired with publishers to raise eBook prices when negotiating iBooks by playing them all against each other and against rival eBook retailer, Amazon.

The US Justice Department accused Apple of price fixing in April 2012 in relation to Apple’s negotiations with five publishers when it was launching the iPad in early 2010. The Justice Department has settled out of court with each of the publishers, which included HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, and Pearson’s Penguin Group.

People love to sue Apple whenever they can, and now a Florida woman is seeking $5+ million in damages because her iPhone 4’s power button doesn’t work. The class action lawsuit is intended to fight for the iPhone 4 users who have reported defective on/off buttons over the past several years.

Pinterest has updated its official app on both Android and iOS with several big features. Users can now receive push notifications for things like comments, mentions, and repins. “@” mentions have also been added for messaging friends on the service. Pinterest will now show you search suggestions as you type, like Google.

An iOS exclusive feature is the ability to send a pin to someone directly within the app. You can also invite friends to pin on group boards.

Pinterest is a free download and today’s update is available in Google Play and the App Store.

Source: Pinterest

The charity auction to score a coffee date in Cupertino with Apple CEO Tim Cook has closed, and the winning bid ended up being $610,00. Yes, that’s more than a half million dollars for an hour of Cook’s time. The estimated price was originally $50,000.

After 86 bids that quickly sent the auction into the stratosphere, an anonymous bidder known only as “a********s” swooped in today and won with the closing bid.